Regardless of what Conservative Republicans are spewing about ObamaCare, the truth is that this allows all individuals in our country to have health insurance, which is absolutely the way it should be. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) will expand access to insurance for all individuals, small groups, and young adults who do not presently have health insurance; including those with pre-existing conditions. It will create a market for those who are unable to get insurance through their job.
Most likely, individuals who already have coverage or receive coverage from a large employer will probably not see any changes. And if you are happy with your insurance, you do not have to do anything-you keep it just the way it is.
THE BIGGEST CHANGE: NJ LAW NOW ALLOWS QUALIFIED DEPENDENTS OF INSURED PEOPLE TO CONTINUE COVERAGE UNTIL AGE 31-IT USED TO BE AGE 26.
The law defines an eligible dependent as a child of a subscriber who is:
unmarried or not in a civil union
has no dependents
is 30 years old or younger
is either a NJ resident, or enrolled as a full time student at an accredited school
People can shop for health insurance on the Health Insurance Marketplace and the Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP) starting 10/1.
You can see side by side comparisons of various plans and decide what's best for you.
Once you purchase your plan, you can start using the health insurance on 1/1/2014.
The Affordable Health Care Act broadens member benefits. The new plans you purchase MUST cover 10 categories of services:
Hospitalization, Outpatient services, Emergency service, Maternity and newborn care,
Prescription drugs, Lab services, Pediatric service (oral and vision included), Mental health/substance abuse, Rehabilitative services and devices, AND most important, Preventative and wellness services(blood pressure, diabetes, cholesterol screenings, mammograms, colonoscopies, flu and pneumonia shots, osteoporosis screenings.
What everyone should realize is that:1) Obamacare created penalties to hospitals that had high rates of patient readmission and also, high rates of infection. And guess what? This year Medicare has stated that patient readmission fell. 2) Obamacare created Accountable Care Organizations where " Doctors get paid based on their patients medical outcome, instead of how many tests/procedures they perform."
3) Electronic records and new technology now being utilized by Doctors and hospitals has created more efiicient and cost saving practices.
Health-care inflation is at its lowest level since 2011. Six hundred BILLION has already been cut from the anticipated 10 year spending total for Medicare&Medicaid.
Premiums are significantly lower than forecasted.
You are now asking who pays for insurance for people who are too sick or too poor to purchase insurance on their own? Well, the money will come from a)
higher taxes on the rich b)the savings I mentioned above from Medicare and c) having young, healthy people (who previously did not have coverage) to enroll in the new system. These 25 million new customers to the insurance industry will ultimately keep costs down. And, lo and behold, "evidence so far suggests that Obamacare's cost reforms are a staggering success."
As Jonathan Chait states in New York Magazine, "permanent health-care reform would define Obama as a Reaganesque transformative figure, rather than the failure conservatives still hope him to be remembered as."
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